The proposed study will investigate the relationship between the control of useful information by old people and the esteem in which they are held by other members of the community. The primary hypothesis is that when old people know something which younger people need to learn, their position in the community is enhanced and this will be reflected in the treatment accorded them by their families and neighbors. We will also investigate the influence of certain social conditions - particularly the isolation of the community and the rigidity of the social structure - which are considered antecedent conditions to the involvement of old people in information processing. Secondarily, we will be concerned with sources of power available to the aged, defined herein as resource control, which are either an alternative to or concomitant with informational control, and may also be related to the esteem enjoyed by the elderly. Results will be interpreted within an analytical framework derived from general systems theory, and based on data drawn from a systematic sample of societies throughout the world. The objective of the research will be the construction of a profile of the type of societal arrangement most conducive to the satisfaction of the needs of old people.